Italy: Italian prosecutor seeks five years for Berlusconi in bribery case

A prosecutor in southern Italy asked a court on Wednesday to sentence four-times prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to five years in jail, accusing him of bribing senators in 2006.

Naples prosecutors say the billionaire media magnate bribed Sergio De Gregorio, a former senator in the small Italy of Values party, to switch allegiance in a move that helped topple the center-left government of then-prime minister Romano Prodi in 2007.

Berlusconi has always denied the allegations. A verdict is expected on July 8.